A team of scientists from the University of California, Santa Barbara,
has succeeded in putting an object large enough to be visible to the
naked eye into a mixed quantum state of moving and not moving.

The team cooled a metal paddle of around 30 micrometres long until it
reached its quantum mechanical 'ground state' - the lowest-energy state
permitted by quantum mechanics. They then used the rules of quantum
mechanics to simultaneously set the paddle moving while leaving it
standing still. The experiment shows that the principles of quantum
mechanics can apply to everyday objects as well as atomic-scale
particles.

According to quantum theory, particles act as waves rather than point
masses on very small scales. This has dozens of bizarre consequences: it
is impossible to know a particle's exact position and velocity through
space, yet it is possible for the same particle to be doing two
contradictory things simultaneously. Through a phenomenon known as
'superposition' a particle can be moving and stationary at the same time
- at least until an outside force acts on it. Then it instantly chooses
one of the two contradictory positions.

But although the rules of quantum mechanics seem to apply at small
scales, nobody has seen evidence of them on a large scale, where outside
influences can more easily destroy fragile quantum states. Large quantum
states could tell researchers more about the relationship between
quantum mechanics and gravity - something that is not well understood.

Fertilising the oceans with iron to absorb carbon dioxide could increase
concentrations of a chemical that can kill marine mammals, a study by
researchers at San Francisco State University has found.

Iron stimulates growth of marine algae that absorb CO2 from the air, and
has been touted as a 'climate fix'. Now researchers have shown that the
algae increase production of a nerve poison that can kill mammals and
birds. They say this raises 'serious concern' over the idea.

The toxin - domoic acid - first came to notice in the late 1980s as the
cause of amnesiac shellfish poisoning. It is produced by algae of the
genus Pseudonitzschia, with concentrations rising rapidly when the algae
'bloom'. The toxin accumulates in animals such as fish that are
themselves immune, but can poison animals higher up in the food chain.

One company - Climos - aims eventually to deploy the iron fertilisation
technique on a commercial basis. A Climos spokesman agreed that further
research on domoic acid production was needed.

For the San Francisco State University team, the potential impact on sea
life is something that regulators and scientists must take into account
when deciding whether to allow further studies or deployment.

Every drop of water is stuffed with the greenest of fuels, hydrogen, but
getting it out is a challenge. A new material raises the prospect of
doing so using noise pollution - from major roads, for example. A team
at the University of Wisconsin-Madison made crystals of zinc oxide that,
when immersed in water, absorb vibrations and develop areas of strong
negative and positive charge. These charges rip apart nearby water
molecules, releasing hydrogen and oxygen gas.

The researchers generate hydrogen using a new variation on piezoelectric
crystals - materials that generate a voltage when strained and which are
being investigated as a way to generate electricity from movement. The
new crystals, however, are designed to be submerged, so the charge they
generate instead pulls apart water molecules to release hydrogen and
oxygen gas, a mechanism the team calls the piezoelectrochemical effect.

The team grew thin microfibers of highly flexible zinc oxide crystals
that flex when subjected to vibration. They showed that ultrasonic
vibrations under water cause the fibres to bend between 5 and 10 degrees
at each end, creating an electrical field with a high enough voltage to
split water and release oxygen and hydrogen. Growing fibres with
different dimensions changes the type of vibration they absorb best.

Lab tests suggest the material can convert 18% of the energy it absorbs
from vibration into energy locked up in hydrogen gas.

Researchers at MIT found that spider silk employs a unique crystal
structure that converts an otherwise weak material into one stronger and
less brittle than steel or ceramics. They believe in future it may be
possible to create new classes of materials that are both incredibly
flexible and strong out of cheap, ordinary elements.

A key property of spider silk is its combination of strength and
'ductility' - its ability to bend or stretch without breaking. Most
man-made materials, in contrast, sacrifice strength for ductility.
Ceramics, for instance, are strong yet brittle.

The MIT team studied the fundamental properties of spider silk using
computer models to simulate its structure. The silk is made from
proteins including some that form thin flat crystals called beta-sheets.
The researchers found that the size of the crystals was critical. When
they measured about three nanometres across they made the silk
ultra-strong and ductile. But if the crystals grew to five nanometres
the material became weak and brittle.

Spider silk is strong despite its components being connected by
naturally weak hydrogen chemical bonds. The geometry of the crystals
allows the hydrogen bonds to work co-operatively, shielding each other
against external forces, according to the researchers.

The European Commission published the 2009 European Innovation
Scoreboard (EIS) this week. The EIS provides a comparative assessment of
the innovation performance of the EU Member States.

Most Member States until 2008 were steadily improving their innovation
performance. The economic crisis may, however, be hampering this
progress. Early indications show that the worst hit are Member States
with lower levels of innovation performance, potentially reversing the
convergence process witnessed over recent years.

Meanwhile, the latest statistics show that the EU is having difficulty
in catching up with the US in innovation performance, although it
maintains a clear lead over the emerging economies of Brazil, Russia,
India and China, despite rapid improvements in China.

The EIS report was prepared by UNU-MERIT for the EC's
Directorate-General for Enterprise and Industry with support from the
EU's Joint Research Centre, the Science Policy Research Unit (SPRU),
Birkbeck College, University of Urbino and the Centre for Science and
Technology Studies (CWTS).

Scientists from Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany and
Imperial College London have created the first device to render an
object invisible in three dimensions. They used the cloak, made using
photonic crystals with a structure resembling piles of wood, to conceal
a small bump on a gold surface.

Invisibility cloaks have already been developed, but they only worked on
two dimensions. The 'cloak' invented by the European team is the first
to work on three dimensions.

It is composed of special lenses that bend light waves to suppress light
as it scattered from the tiny bump the researchers were trying to make
disappear, the study says. The invisibility cloak and the bump were both
minute. The cloak measured 100 microns by 30 microns and the bump it hid
was 10 times smaller. The researchers are working now to recreate the
disappearing bump on a larger scale.

A team of scientists at Kansas State University in Manhattan has wrapped
bacteria in one-atom thick sheets of carbon known as graphene. The
carbon cloak could one day help researchers to image tiny cells at
higher resolution than is currently possible.

To image samples at high resolution using transmission electron
microscopy, they must be placed in a vacuum, where they are exposed to
fast-moving electrons. This is problematic for living specimens. The
vacuum can cause them to dry out and die, whereas the electrons rip
apart hydrogen bonds that help to hold together molecules inside the
microbes.

Graphene may offer some protection. The researchers began with graphene
flakes, to which they applied a common lectin protein that would cause
the flakes to bond to certain kinds of bacteria known as Gram-positive
bacteria. The group then put the treated graphene into a beaker filled
with two types of Gram-positive bacteria. Within seconds, the tiny
sheets wrapped themselves around the organisms.

The researchers then put their shrink-wrapped bacteria under the
transmission electron microscope. Preliminary results indicated that the
bacteria were doing well, especially when compared with unprotected
controls. Because graphene is an electrical conductor, the electrons
could penetrate the shell, but it also offered protection. Graphene is
an excellent thermal conductor, and the researchers suggest that it
might be shunting blistering heat away from the bacteria. It also seems
to seal the bacteria off from the corrosive environment of the vacuum.

Bacteria living on people's hands could be used in forensic
identification, in the same way as DNA, say scientists from the
University of Colorado. They discovered that the 'communities' of
bacteria living on a person's skin are different for each individual.

The team took swabs from keyboards and were able to match the bacteria
they found to the computer owners. Even on the hands of the most
scrupulously clean people, about 150 different species of bacteria can
be found. And these numbers are not significantly affected by regular
hand-washing.

The team was able to match samples of bacteria from three computer
keyboards to each computer's owner. They also saw very clear differences
between those samples and samples taken from random volunteers. Hand
bacteria, they found, can survive at room temperatures for up to two
weeks and the bugs could be identified even when fingerprints were
smudged, or there was not enough DNA to obtain a profile.

The scientists say that this emerging technology is 70-90% accurate, and
that this will increase as it is refined over time. It could soon
provide an additional forensic tool that could be used to corroborate
other evidence.

A UK soldier who was blinded by a rocket propelled grenade in Iraq three
years ago has been fitted with a device that allows him to 'see' with
his tongue, enabling him to visualise shapes, read words and walk
unaided.

The soldier has been selected by the UK Ministry of Defence to test the
BrainPort miniature video camera and sensory equipment, which could
revolutionise treatment for blind patients. The device works by
converting visual images into a series of electrical pulses that are
relayed to the tongue. The differing strengths and patterns of the
tingles can be interpreted to build up a picture of surroundings and
enable users to navigate around objects.

The device consists of a tiny video camera attached to a pair of
sunglasses. It is linked by wires to a plastic lollypop-like sensor
which users place on their tongue to receive the electrical impulses.
The BrainPort sends information to 400 points on the tongue connection.
Designers plan to upgrade this to 4,000 points, providing a clearer
image.